Why you don't trust petco... and their merchandise.

My friend bought himself a bp about a month ago and had bought everything that petco told him he needed. A 10 gal vivarium, a 150watt heat lamp, a 10-20 gal size UTH a small water bowl and a large log hide and a dial hygrometer and stick-on glass thermometer. I hadn't seen his set-up till just now when he called me over for advice on why his snake looked like a thin bag of bones... Before I left I grabbed a few things to take over, namely my spare acurite thermometer/hygrometer.

Let me start by saying that when I put the probe underneath his snakes only hide, which was located directly under the sunbeam heatlamp, my acurite max'd out at 120 degrees when the stick-on glass thermometer said 95. All I can say is damn, I knew those things were inaccurate and those logs hold alot of temp inside them, but a 30+ degree difference was astounding. That was the snakes only hide so of course his bp had spent the last month in that scorching heat. The cool side of the tank was a whopping 109.4 in the open.

you see, he had done what the petco emplyee told him. he got everything the petco guy could sell him, and then did a few minutes of research and decided to foil & ducttape the screen mesh top to keep humidity in... He knew he needed to buy a thermostat, but b/c his cruddy thermometer was giving him temps within normal range he never did.

I did everything I could tonight with what I had to rectify the situation, and he's takin his bp by the vet tomorrow for fluids at the very least. he's in horrible shape and as much of an optimist as I am, I have my doubts about this poor little fellow. Stuff like this makes me wonder why petco doesnt carry decent thermometers and hygrometers. Petstop does, but they are twice the price of what walmart has to offer; not to mention when helping a customer decide what his snake needs petco needs to atleast have the slightest clue as to what the finished product of the animals habitat will be when you put everything together. I am just completely beside myself at the moment. This has not been a good month for me and herps.... :mad:

OMG!


My heart goes out for the little guy, I hope you manage to get him back on the right track. Hopefully you got to him in time.:(


dr del

I am just glad he called you to come over and check on the snake...and that he is willing to take him to the vet. Just think about how many unfortunate snakes die without the owner ever knowing why or asking for help.

Please keep us posted.

Oh see this what we say all the time pet stores are there to sell you crap not educate you on you pet.

Keep working with the little guy.. I hope he makes it through.

Luckily the reptile store here has really knowledgeable people, they even sexed my snake for me till we found a female. Ashame most pet stores have no idea what they are doing. Good luck with the little guy, our thoughts are with him.

The snake was put down a few hours ago. If my friend was to pursue treatment it would have been several hundred dollars in vet bills and only given 30% chance recovery. I am not a happy camper right now but I feel it was the best decision given the situation. I have a hard time faulting my friend because he went off the advise that someone who's supposed to know what they're doing told him with absolute certainty. If anything I feel a little guilty b/c I knew petco does some stupid things, and I spend an excessive amount of time on some website filled with knowledgeable herpers yet I didn't ask about his set-up...

the reason i dont trust them is the last time i was at one. the warmest reptile cage was 63 degs. and that was in the afternoon. i can only imahing how cold it gets at night.

we dont have petcos around here, but we have a petsmart, their BP cage is at about 95 degrees and about 72% humidity everytime I am in there. The only thing I can fault them with is not enough hides and no cool side in the tank. But at least its better then half the other stores out there.


I was a bit disturbed by one BP I saw at my herp store, which really surprised me considering they know what they are doing. But it was a mid grown female BP, no hides, 1 water bowl, and it was really hot in there. She was in shed, and it was flaking off in itty bitty peices, she looked like hell. Felt so bad for her...wanted to buy her just to get her out of there.....yet ALL the other snake cages are setup the way they should be...some reason she got the shaft. :( :(

Wow, some of you guys have horror stories about your local PetCos! :eek: I've lucked out; mine is very tidy and the snakes, aside from the teeny baby corns, are kept separately and in good temps with *gasp* DIGITAL thermometers. :eek:

Poor snakey, I hope everything works out for him. PetCo seriously needs some guidance in the way of info given to new owners. Maybe we could write a nice letter with lots of signatures(like a petition almost) to the head honchos and see if anything becomes of it?

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Originally Posted by Sausage

Wow, some of you guys have horror stories about your local PetCos! :eek: I've lucked out; mine is very tidy and the snakes, aside from the teeny baby corns, are kept separately and in good temps with *gasp* DIGITAL thermometers. :eek:

Poor snakey, I hope everything works out for him. PetCo seriously needs some guidance in the way of info given to new owners. Maybe we could write a nice letter with lots of signatures(like a petition almost) to the head honchos and see if anything becomes of it?

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Good luck, one member here was sold a BP that had IBD and other snakes in the store were infected and petco didnt give two ***** about it. even when the snake the person purchased died all they offered was a discount, showed no signs of sympathy or anything. doubt a letter for this would mean anything to them...

my thought is that we try to get petco to switch their caresheet for the one here!

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Originally Posted by SnakeEyes

Good luck, one member here was sold a BP that had IBD and other snakes in the store were infected and petco didnt give two ***** about it. even when the snake the owner died all they offered was a discount, showed no signs of sympathy or anything. doubt a letter for this would mean anything to them...

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True, I remember that. Very unfortunate. :( It disappoints me how PetCo just wants to make the sale and that once the animal is out of their care, they don't care if it suffers or dies.

But hey, I guess that's just business. :irkd:

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Originally Posted by Gooseman

The snake was put down a few hours ago. If my friend was to pursue treatment it would have been several hundred dollars in vet bills and only given 30% chance recovery. I am not a happy camper right now but I feel it was the best decision given the situation. I have a hard time faulting my friend because he went off the advise that someone who's supposed to know what they're doing told him with absolute certainty. If anything I feel a little guilty b/c I knew petco does some stupid things, and I spend an excessive amount of time on some website filled with knowledgeable herpers yet I didn't ask about his set-up...

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Ben, don't kick yourself dear. In the end your friend was responsible to see to this snake and educate himself, just not go on the say so of a pet store. It's a sad fact that many folks don't find out a lot about their snakes until stuff like this happens and their pet pays the ultimate price. If nothing else your intervention helped the poor thing be put down humanely rather than die inch by inch as it was obviously doing. You may not have been there beforehand but now you have an excellent opportunity to educate your friend on what went wrong, how it could have been addressed and if he chooses to get another snake at some point, how it should be properly cared for.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Ben, don't kick yourself dear. In the end your friend was responsible to see to this snake and educate himself, just not go on the say so of a pet store. It's a sad fact that many folks don't find out a lot about their snakes until stuff like this happens and their pet pays the ultimate price. If nothing else your intervention helped the poor thing be put down humanely rather than die inch by inch as it was obviously doing. You may not have been there beforehand but now you have an excellent opportunity to educate your friend on what went wrong, how it could have been addressed and if he chooses to get another snake at some point, how it should be properly cared for.

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True, it's just been a rather long month for me, both with class and a bunch of things related to my herps (which y'all have the misfortune of hearing about) have gone awry and it's starting to take it's toll... Grr... It just bugs me to no end that if I had gotten to the snake earlier it would be perfectly fine, but in the end I could do nothing. Especially since I'm going to be a vet in a few short years.

once i become the reptile specialist where i work at, im going to recommend we sell digital thermometers and not the gauges.and to also get rid of the heat rocks.idk if that'll be easy.

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Originally Posted by Gooseman

my thought is that we try to get petco to switch their caresheet for the one here!

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i was actually gonna do that but once i become the reptile specialist:D

heat rocks arent bad, just bad for snakes.

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Originally Posted by SnakeEyes

heat rocks arent bad, just bad for snakes.

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arent they bad for reptiles? they cant keep steady temps on 1 whole side and they can get really hot and burn the animal.

heat rocks are dangerous b/c hotspots form on them at places that may or may not be connected to your thermostat so you never really know just how hot they are. so they are dangerous really to any form of animal.

JUST SAY NO!!!.....to petco...lol yea i just go their to buy basic needs, feeders, calcium and such, i like to check on the reptiles and wish i could save them but cant save em all...the one snake which i mentioned has had shedded skin for like a month (at petland) when i last seen it, still has unshed skin stuck on him. The petco by me isnt that bad, in the sense they take btter care of there animals than some others, but there #1 interest is saveing space and makeing money so they have 3bps in 1 tank, 8leo's, like 9 cresteds..I did meet a couple employees that knew about snakes and cresteds, which was cool cuz they acually cared...

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Originally Posted by SnakeEyes

heat rocks arent bad, just bad for snakes.

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Funny then isn't it that just about every good forum or caresheet on any type of lizard also recommends not using heat rocks. I guess they "aren't bad"...if you cut off the cord and use them as cage decor, or warm up your grilled cheese sandwich on one. Other than that I can't think of a good thing about them.

As hard an experience as this was Ben, if you plan to be a vet you are going to have worse ones and have to learn to seperate yourself to some degree from it. You'll see animals brought in far too late and you're expected to perform miracles (and not charge "too much") or animals brought in to be put down simply because their owners no longer want the hassle of them. Being a vet's a tough job I would think but a rewarding one. This experience will likely help you down the road if you see it as a learning one.

I have (more than once) slipped proper care sheets among the ones at petco. Hoping that someone might get the proper information. I guess if everyone does one thing to help eventually something will change.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

As hard an experience as this was Ben, if you plan to be a vet you are going to have worse ones and have to learn to seperate yourself to some degree from it. You'll see animals brought in far too late and you're expected to perform miracles (and not charge "too much") or animals brought in to be put down simply because their owners no longer want the hassle of them. Being a vet's a tough job I would think but a rewarding one. This experience will likely help you down the road if you see it as a learning one.

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yea, I'm aware of this. but just like doctors, vet's should honestly be able to say they did everything possible to help. i know i was not responsible for his snake b/c in the end it's his snake. It's when he tried to feed his snake and it wouldnt eat he asked for my advice and I told him his snake was fine, just to give him some time to get acclimated to his new environment. I asked about his temps, but not about how he was measuring them. It's just one of those nagging feelings you get when you realize asking just one more question could have meant a world of difference in the end.

there are many things about capitalism that i believe in, except when it comes to businesses that deal in living organisms. in such cases it should not be about the dime at the end of the day, but about the animals and their new owners.

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Originally Posted by Gooseman

there are many things about capitalism that i believe in, except when it comes to businesses that deal in living organisms. in such cases it should not be about the dime at the end of the day, but about the animals and their new owners.

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But you know there is just as much (if not more) money in doing it right then wrong. You really need more stuff to setup a tank correctly.

WRONG WAY: (prices are est.)
Tank/cover - $40
Heat Lamp/cover - $15
Half Log - $8
Water bowl - $4
UTH - $20
Cheap-o temp/humidity guages - $10
Substrate - $8
TOTAL: $105

RIGHT WAY:
Tank/cover - $40
2 Hides - $16
Water Bowl - $4
UTH - $20
Thermostat - $50 (cheap one)
Digital temp/humidity guage - $15
Substrate - $8
Potentially a heat lamp/cover + another Thermostat - $65
TOTAL: $153 (or $218 with extra thermostat and lamp)

Not to mention a happy repeat customer (feeders, more animals, etc.). It just makes you wonder why the big box stores don't do it this way.

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

It just makes you wonder why the big box stores don't do it this way.

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only reason I can come up with is the whole "lead by example" theory. If they recommended the proper set-up they would cannibalise all their space with all the larger, more expensive tanks they would need to house their animals correctly. Not to mention having 5 bp tanks so they can all be separate. etc.

Not to mention it's going to be harder to coax a customer into buying an animal they're not so sure on if they have to spend another $100 that corporate petco says isn't necessary.

This seems like a critical time in herping. The internet has brought us all the wealth of knowledge that we share.. it is too bad that no one can push that knowledge out into the retail world.

i go to petco all the time for feeders, etc and for a while there was a guy working there who really knew his snakes. he had all different herps and had even hatched a few bp clutches. when i had a prob with my babies, i'd call him for advice and it was always good. he's since quit working there and whenever i get into a discussion about snakes with anyone there (not looking for advice, of course) they don't seem to know the first thing about them. i feel like i'm educating them instead of the other way around. maybe i should start giving them this website.....

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Originally Posted by SnakeEyes

Good luck, one member here was sold a BP that had IBD and other snakes in the store were infected and petco didnt give two ***** about it. even when the snake the person purchased died all they offered was a discount, showed no signs of sympathy or anything. doubt a letter for this would mean anything to them...

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Yep, that would be me... The reason I don't trust Petco -- they sold me my very first snake which was infected with IBD and died a month later.

I had my friend turn his set-up back on so he could take a pic of the discrepency in the temps. Well my friends, here is that pic.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t..._0002_01-1.jpg

The probe was located inside the hide on the hotside, and as you can see, it's max'd out at 120 degrees. The "cool" side was 93.9 by the accurite and 80 on the stick on (according to daniel, I wish there wasn't any glare, but thats what we got...)

the real problem is that alot of people, vets, animal control, and health departments dont care because reptiles are not warm and cuddly so 99.9% of the time no one knows or cares to file animal cruelty charges against any of them for reptiles and im sure that .09% of complaints are just ignored